Page 10 of Shift of Morals (Shifter Lords #2)

Chapter

Six

T he shop’s air felt stale, heavy with an unfamiliar tang of magic. I stilled just outside my office door, a chill running down my spine. Setting my purse down, I crept through the back on silent feet, keeping my eyes peeled for anything strange or anyone who wasn’t supposed to be here.

I sent out a soft pulse of magic, but the plants were alert, not alarmed. Seconds later, I discovered the door to the walk-in fridge wide open. A sound of dismay escaped me as I walked inside.

The preservation pouch holding the bouquet pulsed a faint crimson color, malicious magic beating at me.

I grimaced and inspected everything inside.

The rot hadn’t penetrated anything else yet, but I needed to get this thing out of my shop before it did.

Every display or arrangement I built had a protective shield and preservation spell woven into the plant’s life force, something I did for my own peace of mind.

And thank goodness I had. If I’d left everything unprotected, I might have lost thousands in inventory.

The front shop door opened, Moira and Ash’s laughter floating through the space.

“Guys, can you come back here?” I called.

Their conversation stopped abruptly, and moments later, three faces appeared. Ash recoiled, his handsome face paling. “What happened?”

“The walk-in’s door was ajar this morning. Something happened to the bouquet, but I haven’t opened the pouch yet.”

“No one went near that awful thing once we put it back last night,” Moira confirmed.

Ash nodded. “I double-checked the latch before I left. Everything was sealed tight.”

“Dammit.” I put my hands on my hips and glared at the thing that was fast becoming the bane of my existence. “I need to check the flowers.”

Ash grimaced. “Are you sure? I say we set the thing on fire.”

“I’m inclined to agree, but maybe that’s what it wants.” I reached out and grabbed the pouch, magic soaking into my fingers.

“The table is clear,” Moira said.

Tess let out a moan of dismay and floated behind Ash as I hurried over to the table and set the bouquet down. With trembling fingers, I opened the pouch and pulled the bouquet out.

No one said a word for a long moment.

Tess broke the silence. “It’s dead but not dead.” A note of awe trickled through her voice. “Cool.”

“Not cool,” I said with a shake of my head. The once vibrant green leaves had turned brown and were curling up. All the blush-colored flowers were leaking a strange, dark-colored sap. “I’m going to lift it. Bring over a pan or something we don’t need so the thing doesn’t ruin my table.”

Ash hurried back with one of those disposable foil pans, sliding it under as I lifted the flowers. Once it was situated away from my table, I slumped onto a stool. “Maybe we should set it on fire.”

“I’m game,” Moira said.

“I plan to speak to Hazel tonight. If she’s not here in twenty-four hours, I may just do that.” I pulled the pouch over. “Mind staying here while I wrangle this thing back into the pouch, just in case something goes awry?”

“We got you,” Ash said, though everyone put some distance between them and the bouquet.

I snorted before reaching for the heavy gloves I kept in one of the table drawers, reserved for working with thorny vines. This one was metaphorically thorny, and I no longer wanted to touch it with bare skin.

As soon as I made contact, the pouch pulled away of its own volition, as if it didn’t want to touch the thing any more than she did. I tried again. Same thing.

“Crap.”

Moira came up.

“Gloves,” I barked.

She rifled through the drawer before coming up with another pair.

“Hold the pouch. I’ll take the bouquet.”

Moira held both sides of it open, though the thing did everything short of biting her in an effort to get away. But it was no match for vampiric strength, and as I lifted the bouquet and placed it inside, I could have sworn the pouch made a sad sigh.

Creeped out, I took it from Moira and resealed everything, double-checking to make sure nothing could escape.

“Did that thing sigh?” Ash asked, horror in his voice.

“I thought I was imagining it,” Moira muttered, grimacing as she stripped her gloves off.

“Don’t put them back in the drawer,” I cautioned as I stripped mine off. “Hand them over, and I’ll cleanse them later.” Moira handed her gloves over, and I tossed both pairs into a resealable bucket.

“I think I might go into the greenhouse if anyone wants to go before we open. There are a bunch of peonies ready for cutting. I thought we could use some of them in Hattie’s bouquet.”

Everyone was game, so we piled into the car, with the bouquet stashed in the trunk, and stopped for coffee on the way back to my house.

Sufficiently caffeinated, and after I’d stuffed the bouquet in the garage fridge, we all piled into the greenhouse. Tess sank down onto the stone floor and sighed. “I love it here, Evie.”

Surprised, I smiled at Tess. “Really? I sometimes wonder how much you like working in the shop with all the green things.”

Tess appeared to think about this for a moment.

“Life and death are not so different from each other. Every breath you take could be your last. Someone like me straddles the line between warm breath and cold, eternal silence. Plants and greenery remind me that I still walk among the living and that I should stay in solid form when I’m around you. ”

Damn, I loved Tess, but she was creepy as hell sometimes. “Well.” My head spun with the millions of responses I could give her, finally settling on, “I’m glad you remember you’re still alive, Tess.”

“Me too.” She placed both palms flat on the floor and closed her eyes. When she said nothing else, I shrugged, figuring she’d gone to wherever banshees went when they were being super weird that day.

Ash came up beside me. “She meditates sometimes so deeply, even I can’t reach her.”

“Does she ever say where she goes?”

He shook his head, mossy eyes trained on the banshee. “No, but she’s quiet most of the day when she finishes. I think it’s a dark place full of fog and death.”

“How would you know?”

He smiled sadly and reached for one of the tiny fronds on one of my ferns, stroking it with a finger the color of tree bark. “Because those same shadows are in her eyes when she awakens.”

I fell silent, wondering when my team had grown so maudlin. When Ash made to walk away, I stopped him. “Ash?”

He turned. “Hmm?”

“Are you happy?”

His eyes widened in surprise. “Happy right now? Or in general?”

I thought about it. “I don’t really know. At the shop, with me, I guess. And in general.” Moira had made a joking crack about running away with Soren, and Ash seemed so sad that it was making me wonder if my team was beginning to fray around the edges.

But the serene smile he gave me made me breathe easier.

“If there is ever a time when I wish to move on, Evie, you will be the first to know. Tess is happy in the shop, and so am I.” He reached for me, rubbing a rough thumb across my cheek.

“There is so much more in store for you that none of us can predict. Even if I weren’t happy, I’d stick around to see what happens. ”

My brows drew together. “Thanks?”

He laughed. “Stop worrying so much. We all love you, and we’re all here for the long term.”

“He’s right,” Moira called from across the greenhouse. “Stop worrying!”

Relief filled me. “Fine!” I snapped halfheartedly. “Now go clip those peonies.”

A piece of mulch thumped me in the forehead, Moira’s laughter echoing through the greenhouse.

Chuckling under my breath, I gathered supplies to start more seedlings and worked for at least half an hour sowing seeds and tending the younger plants.

Everything was fine for at least an hour.

Moira and Ash’s quiet conversation acted as background noise as I worked.

Tess still sat motionless on the floor, her eyes closed and a blank expression on her face.

I pulled the flats of creeping thyme I’d just planted over in front of me and quietly gathered my magic, just a small amount to encourage growth, and pressed my index finger into the soil.

Earth magic ripped from my body, a tearing pain that stripped me of breath.

Glass shattered as vines exploded from the back of the greenhouse, thick, pulsing tendrils of life coming up from the ground.

Moira and Ash’s alarmed shouts rang through the structure, but I couldn’t pull my magic back.

The thistle tattoo on my arm burned, agony sizzling on my bicep.

My knees went out from under me, and I sagged to the ground.

Plant life surrounded me, covering me with vines and leaves.

I opened my mouth to scream, but nothing came out.

Pain bled through my body, my skin on fire. And just when I thought I might pass out from the pain, cool magic touched my skin, a fine mist of water blanketing my body, and the pain began to recede.

“Evie!” Tess shouted. “What were you thinking?”

Ash and Moira skidded to a halt, looming over my prone form. Moira went to reach for me, but Tess stopped her. “Not yet,” she warned. “Her magic is still volatile.”

A whimper escaped me.

“Oh, Evie,” Moira whispered, tears shining in her eyes. Her gaze dragged from my face to my arm, and her eyes widened. “Your thistle…it’s glowing.”

My eyes fluttered shut. The only time I ever had difficulty with my Floromancy was when my Chimera magic acted up.

Hazel had placed the tattoo on my arm and spelled it to hide the truth of my blood from prying eyes, but it served a dual purpose to keep the Chimera magic suppressed, though it wasn’t completely foolproof.

As evidenced by all the broken windows and the mutant vines hanging above my head.

“Shit,” I whispered.

“I’ll say,” Moira said, deadpan.

Ash’s eyes glowed as he beat back the overgrowth. “I can’t help with the windows, but I can put the vines back.”

I closed my eyes and let out a slow, shaky breath. “Thank you.”